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Hotel Workers Deserve Better
Tourism and hospitality can be a tough business in this city. The SARS crisis thankfully never exploded into a full blown public outbreak but scared away enough visitors to the city that it might as well have been. Tourism Toronto, an agency controlled by tourism stakeholders like hotels, has been lacklustre in its marketing efforts. It seems that for every Lord of the Rings musical we’re getting a Toronto Unlimited, a pretty poor track record considering it’s these very same hotel owners that know just how bad business has been lately.
Tourism and hospitality is even tougher if you’re working on its frontlines. With a workforce made up largely of women, new Canadians, and those who may be in the country illegally. Those who work to clean, maintain and run the city’s hotels and conference facilities are far too vulnerable to abuses by hotel owners and managers.
One group that’s trying to raise awareness of and advocate for these issues is Hotel Worker’s Rising. Torontoist is happy to see that hotel workers are getting support from many of Toronto’s feminist organizations. A number in fact are meeting to organize around this issue next Monday, Mar. 6, 5:30-8:30 at Oakham House (63 Gould St.) in preparation for a rally on International Women’s Day.
It’s an issue that’s simply been festering for too long. Take for example, the workers at the Metropolitan Hotel. Management has been abusive to employees and breaching rules concerning breaks, hours worked and more. This has been going on for over a year.
But Torontoist doesn’t want to just single out one hotel. We’d like to see the hotel industry own up to its responsibilities. When they cried out for help, they got it. The city allowed them to collect a tarriff on room fees, they got control of the overall marketing of the city’s tourism program.
Those who stay in Toronto often spend large amounts of time in our hotels and by default hotels are how many of the city’s visitors see this city. We criticize other nations for tourism practices that aren’t sustainable or are exploitative. But what happens when many of these same practices are being carried out in this city’s hotels?
The support staff at these businesses are not just an integral part of these establishments but crucial to how others see this city. The least they deserve is respect and fairness.